Allegations of large scale submission of Form 7 applications to remove names from voter list have come to light in Gujarat. Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise, many voters have claimed that their names, phones and Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers were misused and signatures were forged to file false claims. In some cases, voters alleged that they were asked to sign hundreds of Form 7 applications and were told that the forms are for adding names, not deleting.
Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have alleged that leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party carried out the exercise, targeting opposition and minority strongholds through mass submission of pre-typed forms. They claim that although the names and signatures of the objectors appear to be handwritten, the applications were filed in large numbers, potentially leading to the deletion of lakhs of names across the state.
He further alleged that many of the mobile numbers listed in the form did not belong to the objectors, and the numbers belonged to unrelated people, mostly from other states. However, the BJP denied the allegations and said that the SIR process was a transparent process and neither the party nor the government had any role in filing the application.
According to the Election Commission of India, any registered voter in a constituency can submit Form 7 objection. Although there is no limit on the number of objections that can be filed by a person, mandatory scrutiny by the Electoral Registration Officer is required if more than five applications are submitted by the same person to prevent abuse.
When? The Hindu Some objectors in Devbhoomi Dwarka, Rajkot and Ahmedabad districts, contacted after accessing the Form 7 applications submitted to the BLO for deletion of their names, said that they had never authorized deletion of any name and they were unaware of such forms. However, the application contained their names, EPIC numbers, contact details and signatures.
One such application was submitted in the name of Maitra Maheshbhai from Rajkot South, in which objection was raised to the inclusion of the name of Ranaji Singh Bhatti. While Mr Maitra’s details were handwritten, Mr Bhatti’s details were pre-printed on the form. When contacted, electrician Mr. Maitra said that he had never submitted any Form 7. “No, I am not aware of any such form, and I have not submitted any form,” he said. When he was asked whether he was associated with any political party, he said that he was associated with BJP.
Another application was submitted in the name of Mansukh Kadawala, a farmer from Bhanwad, objecting to the inclusion of the name of Mustafa D. Surma in the voter list. The contact details given on the application were incorrect, and the mobile number did not exist. After obtaining the actual contact details of Mr. Kadavala and reaching out to him, he also said that he had not submitted any such form. Mr Surma, a local journalist, said he found more than three dozen Form 7 applications submitted to the BLO in Mr Kadawala’s name, although Mr Kadawala has denied filing any of them.
Similar complaints have come to light across the state. In Junagadh, a BJP councilor lodged an objection demanding removal of the name of Padmashree awardee and Gujarati folk artist Mir Haji Kasam Rathore from the voter list, sparking outrage and allegations of irregularities. He later claimed that the objection was due to a discrepancy in surname.
Devayat Rajshibhai Karmur, a farmer from Sanakhala in Devbhoomi Dwarka, also said that he has neither authorized anyone nor submitted any form and he is unaware of any such process. “I am a farmer from a remote village and do not go to Bhanwad, the taluka headquarters, even once in two months. Why are you asking about this?” He said. Rambhai Jogani, local AAP leader from Khambhaliya, said an application in his name was submitted to the BLO seeking removal of Ibrahim Sanghar of Nana Mandha in Khambhaliya taluka.
The Hindu It was found that in Ahmedabad’s Gomtipur area, some residents were asked to sign 300 to 1,200 Form 7 applications at the residence of a local leader. They were told the forms were to include names. After discovering that the applications were actually for deletion, he submitted an affidavit to the Election Commission on 25 January, requesting that the forms signed by him not be considered.
“On January 11, we were taken to the office-cum-residence of a local BJP leader, where he asked me to sign 700 forms, saying they were for inclusion of voters from our ward, not for deletion. Later, a BLO informed me that the forms I had signed were for deletion, after which I objected and filed an affidavit. The leader promised to appoint us as BLA-2 And it was ensured that if we signed the form there would be no hindrance in our municipal corporation work,” the Patan resident said. Arbaaz Khan, 29, a steam press worker. His friends Mohammad Arif Patan and Faraz Khan, who accompanied him, said that he signed 330 forms and over 700 forms respectively, and also recorded a video of the signatures. Mr Khan said that about 20 people like him filed affidavits between January 24 and January 28.
As the western state moves towards finalizing its voter list, election officials on January 29 said 6.88 lakh applications for addition of names and 9,88,621 Form 7 applications for deletion of names have been filed so far in the SIR exercise. However, contradicting this statement, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer issued another release two days later, on January 31, stating that January 30 was the last day to submit claims and objections, with a total of 1,83,235 Form 7s submitted. When asked about the verification process, an IAS officer said that after receiving the applications, BLOs do field verification and send the applications to AEROs, who scrutinize the documents and BLO report before sending them to EROs. The final decision is taken at the ERO level. “Only the final figures are released by the CEO office,” the official said, adding that this shows that the numbers released by the CEO office are final. However, when contacted, CEO Harit Shulka did not respond to queries regarding the huge discrepancy between the data released at a gap of two days.
In December, as part of the SIR, Gujarat saw a reduction of about 74 lakh voters in the voter list. According to the revised draft released on December 19, 2025, the total number of voters in the state reduced from 5.08 crore to about 4.34 crore, reflecting corrections and deletions following the verification drive in the districts.
Meanwhile, Nilofarbanu Ayyub Ali Sayyad, member of Vehrakhadi gram panchayat in Anand district, alleged that an objection was filed demanding removal of her name. She said she learned that a person named Girishbhai Jala, whom she did not know, had submitted a Form 7 objecting to his inclusion as a voter. “I am fully alive and an elected member of the Gram Panchayat, yet there was a demand to remove my name,” she said.
A visit to Vehrakhadi revealed that Ms Syed’s case was no different. There are about 7,500 registered voters in the village, of which about 3,500 are from the minority community. The villagers said that 965 Form 7 applications seeking removal of names were submitted from the village, and they approached the Election Commission asking that the forms containing their names not be considered. Another villager, Syed Hazrat Ali, a 62-year-old farmer, said he was shocked to learn that Form 7 applications had been submitted to delete the names of 20 members of his family. He said, “We are four brothers and have a family of 68 members. Applications were filed to delete 20 votes, which is completely unfair. They are trying to remove us from the voter list. This is our motherland and they cannot take away our constitutional right.”
Opposition parties have alleged rampant misuse of the provision, claiming that ruling party workers allegedly submitted thousands of Form 7 applications, targeting voters from minority communities or constituencies where the ruling party had a weak electoral presence. Vehrakhadi village falls under Ankalav assembly constituency, which is represented by state Congress president Amit Chavda. Calling the alleged practice a “threat to democracy”, Mr Chavda alleged that the BJP’s state headquarters, Kamalam, was sending lists of names to be removed, which local leaders and officials were “blindly following.”
“In fact, Form 7 applications are already being circulated with the names typed in. We condemn this illegal practice of the BJP and have asked the affected voters to file affidavits,” he said. He demanded legal action against Election Commission officials who “illegally” accepted the forms, as well as against those who submitted them, alleging that false information was provided to a public representative, which was a criminal offence. “I demand CCTV footage to review the presentations,” he said.
State AAP chief Isudan Gadhvi accused the ruling party of trying to snatch away Gujaratis’ voting rights and said his party would launch a statewide campaign on the issue.
State BJP president and former minister Jagdish Vishwakarma rejected the claims of Congress and AAP, saying the SIR process was conducted in a transparent manner and neither the party nor the government had any role in submitting the deletion application. He accused the opposition of trying to politicize the issue to divert attention from government welfare works. “If large-scale deletions were really a problem, they would have happened during the Congress rule, yet they are holding us responsible,” he said.
